Another Elkhart County tobacco store robbed at gunpoint

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. -- The Elkhart County Sheriff Dept. has been busy investigating several armed robberies at tobacco stores throughout the county. Saturday night, a fourth tobacco store was hit by robbers in little more than a week.

The most recent robbery happened around 7 p.m. at Stogie's Discount Tobacco, 30913 Old US 20, where the robbers were armed with a shotgun. No one was physically hurt, however the salesclerk was forced to the ground at gunpoint.

The store manager who did not want to show his face of camera said, "We have several cameras and we pretty much got the entire thing from coming through the front door till they left."

The manager didn't want his name used as well, nor would he allow ABC 57 News the opportunity to show the surveillance video. However he did allow our ABC 57 crew to watch the video.

The video shows two white males running into the store. The first man through the door had a shotgun in his hands and he jumped onto the counter and ordered the cashier to the ground. He was wearing a tan Carhartt like jacket, gloves, and he had a bandanna covering his face.

The second suspect went straight to the back room and started going through office drawers. He was wearing a black winter jacket, a black baseball cap and had a black bandanna covering his face.

The sales clerk told the owner that the two were communicating back and forth with each other. The man with the shotgun became frustrated when he couldn't get the cash register opened. He demanded at gunpoint the clerk tell him how to open the drawer.

The owner says she told them how to open it and they proceeded to clear out the cash. They also took a lot of Marlboro Reds cartons of cigarettes along with Newports and Pyramid.

The store manager said, "She called me right after it happened. We tell them to fully comply, I mean it's not worth dying over or getting shot over a couple of hundred dollars."

Investigators are asking for the public's help in identifying the robbers. Anyone with information is asked to call the Elkhart County Sheriff's Dept. at (574) 533-4151.